Always a Chance
by PrettyPurpleHaze
Summary: Dana has one last question for her favorite teacher. A Season 1 Dana/Harry fic.


Title: Always a Chance  
  
Rating: G  
  
Disclaimer: Mine? Oh, do I wish! But, alas, the characters, the school, the whole 'Boston Public' show: NOT MINE. I don't even know any of the directors, actors/actresses, writers, producers, whatever. Does that make it clear? Eh, just in case: I DO NOT OWN THEM!  
  
Summery: Dana has one last request for Mr. Senate.  
  
Timeframe: End Season One.  
  
Autho's Note: To Dana_ Poole_Rules for inspiring me to write Harry/Dana and for being a jaw-dropping, amazing, addicting writer. My first BP story and it's all you, chick.  
  
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"Mr. Senate? Can I talk to you?" Dana Poole asked a little more nervous than she was known to be.  
  
"Now? I'm in the middle of something here," Harry Senate responded though he was void of annoyance.  
  
"Please? It's important." Her eyes darted to Coach Kevin Riley who had been in mid sentence and then back to the man in question whom stared into her pleading green eyes with resolution.  
  
"Alright, come on."  
  
"Later," Kevin called and Harry nodded in agreement. Winslow High gossip could wait until there were no ears around to know that the men of the faculty were just as chatty as the females.  
  
The hallway was empty and Dana walked side by side with her former teacher, the crisp material of his blue and white-stripped shirt almost touching her arm but not quite. No, they had to be careful of that. The year had begun with a kiss and then the fall out, since then each had been careful not to give anyone a reason to suspect something that wasn't there.  
  
Well, he had been careful. He was *her* teacher after all and there was no more room for misconceptions.  
  
They slipped next to a staircase and Dana leaned against the wall, her hands tucked behind her back. Harry looked at her expectantly but she avoided his eyes and instead roamed her gaze over the empty hallway. The students had quickly deserted it as the bell had rung.  
  
"Are you going to talk?" he asked with a gentle urge. She darted her eyes to him and then seemed to fidget for a moment before she spoke.  
  
"I'm graduating tomorrow."  
  
"Really? I was wondering why your name was on the list. You wouldnâEt really want to leave us, would you? Those long hours of studying are too good to miss," he chided. "Not that you'd know or anything."  
  
"Mr. Senate, listen, can't you be serious for a minute?"  
  
His eyebrows raised and he looked down at her, "Ordering me around? I thought you dropped that in November."  
  
She rolled her eyes and smiled, "Well I resurrected it."  
  
"No, it's nice, like a flashback . . . almost like a car accident you're glad you survived."  
  
She laughed and pushed his arm lightly; he moved with the hit and folded his arms across his chest. Her laugh faded just a little as she looked away and then back to him.  
  
"Can I ask you something?"  
  
"I would have walked away already if you couldn't."  
  
"Mr. Senate . . . I'm graduating and . . . I was wondering . . ."  
  
"Spit it out, a hesitant you is pretty unnerving."  
  
"Can I kiss you?" she asked softly as she looked up at him with more hope than he had ever seen.  
  
"What?" His step back didn't appear to be a sign of giving in but she stepped up to him just the same.  
  
"Can I kiss you? One more time, it's not a decision that needs a lot of consideration."  
  
"You'd think," he said.  
  
"Mr. Senate," she answered with a tweak of something-akin whine in her tone that he had heard before  
  
when she desperately wanted him to help her from getting expelled. Her hand fell on his arm that was now uncrossed and hung at his side and it moved with a warm welcome, heating his skin through the material of his shirt.  
  
"Dana, I don't think--"  
  
"The easy solution," she whispered, stepping against him. "Don't think."  
  
Her lips met his and his eyes closed immediately as she, satisfied with his response, followed suit with a flutter.  
  
Her mouth was soft under his as she gave a chaste kiss without even a slight part of her lips. He leaned forward but did nothing else as she got wrapped up in the kiss, tilting her head and trying to imagine what it would be like if this were an everyday occurrence.  
  
She cupped his face, nails lightly touching his jaw as if he were delicate and might shatter. Just like her daydreams of him. He responded with the gentle and wonderful pressure of his hands on her hips. Dana's breath caught a little at the jarring and pleasurable feel of his slight hold, a gasp of intake followed by Harry's slight kiss on her upper lip. Her mouth stayed slack at the tingle of pleasure humming through her and he took advantage of that, bringing her closer, kissing her lower lip. Next was the right side of her mouth, then the left, then a slow trace of his tongue along the plush lower half of her pout.  
  
He pulled back from their kiss though their stance or hands did not move. She bit her lip, trying to taste him on her, trying to come to terms that he *did* just kiss her.  
  
"This is the end," he whispered.  
  
Dana's eyes trembled before opening and staring at him.  
  
"But now it doesn't have to be," she said just as softly.  
  
"It does for me, Dana. We have too much baggage, if we were a couple we would have broken up already," he smirked.  
  
"So then we could 'try again', have the forget-the-past phase," she suggested with a smile.  
  
"I don't," he started but paused at her expression. "We can't, not now."  
  
And maybe he meant not ever again, not after everything that had taken place . . .  
  
Not that Dana would decide to take it that way.  
  
Her lips gave a little curve and she stepped back from their intimate embrace with one last touch of the stumbled line of his jaw and a conscious choice of that statement.  
  
"Alright, Mr. Senate. Not now."  
  
She turned and began to walk away, shaking her hips a little as she went to show just how short her skirt was. He just watched her as he told himself he did the right thing even if he didn't feel like it.  
  
"Not now," she said as she continued on her way before letting out a light laugh. "But one day."  
  
This time he looked on with a slowly falling expression. When would he learn? One kiss?  
  
Ha.  
  
He had opened a whole new can of worms.  
  
The End. 


End file.
